Bumblebee: A Mech Out Of His Time
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: When Wheeljack's experiments with spacebridging go awry, Sam and Bumblebee, who have come to observe, get caught up in the backlash. When they recover from the aftereffects, they find they seem not only to be out of place, but out of time...
1. Chapter 1

Bumblebee: A Mech Out Of His Time.

Summary: When Wheeljack's experiments with spacebridging go awry, Sam and Bumblebee, who have come to observe, get caught up in the backlash. When they recover from the aftereffects, they find they seem not only to be out of place, but out of time

Continuity: Movieverse.

Crossover: Transformers/Dinotopia.

Disclaimer: Transformers and all associated characters belong to Dreamworks/Paramount and Hasbro. Dinotopia and all canon characters are the intellectual property of James Gurney. No claims on these are made and no infringement of copyright is intended. However, Fiona Raven and her family are the joint intellectual property of myself and MeowthTwo on this site.

A/N: A bunny from Reflections of Reality that tickled my creative interest. As a fan of the Dinotopia books, I decided to see if I could mix two of my interests.

Bumblebee: A Mech Out Of His Time.

Chapter One: Wheeljack.

"Sam, are you sure you want to see this?" Ratchet asked as the human boy climbed into Bumblebee's hands. "Wheeljack's experiments have a certain reputation for going bang when they are not supposed to. Even the Decepticons scatter if they see him wielding unknown machinery in the field, and yet you want to go and watch?"

"Bumblebee said that as the technology of spacebridging is fairly well known, it should be safer than if he was experimenting with something he wasn't familiar with," Sam said. "Anyway, isn't this his third session, nothing's blown up so far, and Bumblebee says it shouldn't be too unsafe."

"I said it was a good sign," Bumblebee corrected him.

"Well, if it looks like things are getting dangerous or out of control, 'Bee and I'll scarper," Sam said.

"If you get enough warning to," Ratchet said drily, but didn't try to stop them. Bumblebee had been present for some of Wheeljack's experiments, and had seen the effects, so he trusted him to keep Sam out of the way. Turning back to the work on the table in front of him, Ratchet continued looking through the processor clusters of both Megatron and Starscream.

After the big battle in Chicago, the Autobots had quickly claimed the bodies of the dead Decepticons, and corralled up any live ones, as much as to stop the humans getting advanced technology as much as out of respect for the dead. Nobody had been more surprised than Ratchet when both Megatron's and Starscream's Sparks had turned out to be still feebly alight. Ratchet had quickly transferred each Spark into a special unit designed for the purpose of keeping and nurturing Sparks whose bodies could not sustain them, and was working on putting the two Decepticons back together while their Sparks were strengthening in the units they were placed in.

Starscream's face had required extensive rebuilding, Ratchet having to melt down and re-shape much of the original, and he had two new optics for the head, to replace those that had been destroyed. He was now going through the processors and memory chips of Starscream to salvage what he could. Most had been protected by being deep inside Starscream's head, but some parts were damaged. Ratchet was confident that as long as the processors hadn't been scrambled, he could save the Decepticon Seeker with little or no change to his personality.

With Megatron, he had a different problem, for although Optimus had decapitated Megatron fairly cleanly, the Decepticon leader had received substantial damage two years before in Egypt, and some parts were either slagged, corrupted, or missing. No matter what Ratchet did, Megatron would have gaps in his memory. However, during his investigations, Ratchet had found a piece of severely corrupted programming in Megatron's processors, a corruption that had been growing, and destroying Megatron's original programming.

Ratchet did not know exactly when the corruption had occurred, nor what had originally caused it, but he thought it unlikely to have occurred since Megatron's arrival on Earth. This pointed towards possible damage by exposure to weapons fire on Cybertron, or possibly he had encountered something else that had caused the original damage. Ratchet wondered if he had found what had caused Megatron to turn from a benign Lord High Protector and champion of the opressed into a tyrant who seemed to kill for the sake of killing, and wanted to destroy every Autobot and non-Cybertronian, be they mech, femme, or youngling of their kind.

If Ratchet did not remove the corrupted data, and reactivated the mech, it would eventually destroy Megatron's personality and possibly even cause the silver mech to self-immolate, turning his violence and love of destruction on himself. However, in removing the damage, Ratchet might end up changing Megatron's personality. Ratchet sighed, and made his decision. Humans understood cancer of the body, and what Megatron was suffering from could be likened to a cancer of the mind, if left untreated it would eventually destroy him. He would have to deal with it, as carefully as he could, and hope enough of Megatron's original personality remained.

He bent to his work, putting his earlier concerns about Sam and Bumblebee and Wheeljack aside for the time being.

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"Hi," Sam said to Wheeljack, as Bumblebee carried him in. The experimenter-mech, who was bent over an odd-looking contraption he'd set up about one of the space pillars, nodded acknowledgement as he made an adjustment to part of the complicated-looking set-up that dominated the middle of the room. He straightened up and then said "I wonder if you two could help me? I have a small component that I need to install, but my fingers are too large. Could you, Sam, put it in?"

Sam eyed the device warily. "Will it be safe? Ratchet said your experiments have a tendency to go wrong."

"They do not!" the inventor said huffily. "Well, okay, sometimes. Often. But not this time." He pointed to a lever built into the outside of the mechanism. "Until that lever is thrown, nothing will happen."

"Okay," Sam said, listening as Wheeljack told him what connections to make. Once Wheeljack was sure Sam understood, Bumblebee took Sam inside the horseshoe-shaped bank of equipment and lifted Sam up to the small aperture Wheeljack was having problems with, just as the Twins, chuckling and giving each other playful shoves, came in, and Sideswipe said "Okay, what you blowin' up this time, Jack?" Wheeljack moved to intercept them.

"Nothing, with luck," Wheeljack said sourly as Sam finished connecting up the part required and wriggled out into Bumblebee's waiting hands.

"Yeah, right," Sunstreaker said, reaching to give Wheeljack a friendly shove. Seeing it coming, Wheeljack backed off, and lost his balance as his legs stopped short against something – the lever.

As Wheeljack fell back over it, his weight brought it down. "Sam, Bee get out of there, it's not calibrated properly!" he said, fighting to be heard against the rising whine of the device powering up.

"What?" Sam shouted, and in desperation, Wheeljack commed the warning to 'Bee, who scooped up his human charge and started running to get out of the machine's influence. The whine reached its highest pitch at that moment, and then there was a bang, and the room began to fill with foul black acrid smoke as something within the equipment overheated and exploded.

Luckily, the room had in-built fire suppression equipment, and foam spurted out and covered the equipment, stifling the fire before it could take hold, and everyone except Ratchet rushed to help clear up and check everyone was okay.

A quick check quickly established that Wheeljack and the Twins were all unharmed, but a quick search and a scan of all the foam quickly established that Sam and Bumblebee had apparently vanished into thin air.

"They must have been spacebridged somewhere by your device, Wheeljack," Optimus said. "Where have they gone?"

"I hadn't set it, Optimus," Wheeljack said. "I thought that would be safest, I assumed that without setting co-ordinates, nothing would go anywhere until I had, but it seems I was wrong." He looked at Optimus worriedly.

"I have no idea where they've gone."

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"Oof!" Sam said as Bumblebee stumbled and fell. The Autobot held Sam carefully and rolled to absorb impact while keeping hold of Sam so he only got an unpleasant jolt. The Autobot let Sam down to the ground and got up as Sam blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light, which was dimmer than in Wheeljack's lab, but wasn't too dim.

He whistled as he looked around the room, his eyes now adjusted to the light. He could see the cathedral like proportions of where he stood, the towering rock formations that didn't look entirely natural, that seemed to be carved from great stalagmites. Some of these had met the corresponding stalactites on the roof, giving the cave a pillared appearance, others had been carved into towers, one was a pyramid, now to his eyes shaped by human hands. He saw flights of steps, some human proportioned, others seeming to be scaled up, and Sam wondered what might have used them. He got his answers as he saw a large flat area, littered with robots, most quadrupedal, having recognisable shapes, and some were easily as big as 'Bee, but they were immobile, a layer of dust showing that they had not been disturbed in some time.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." The voice of Dorothy from _'The Wizard of Oz'_ came from 'Bee's speaker, jolting Sam's attention back to his Autobot friend.

"You said it, buddy," Sam said.


	2. Chapter 2

Bumblebee – A Mech Out Of His Time.

Chapter Two – The Underground Chambers.

"Bee," said Sam, shaking himself out of the immobility that he seemed to have been experiencing since arriving who-knew-where-ever they were. "The robots down there – are they Cybertronians? Have others been stranded here at some time? Are you in danger?"

Bumblebee activated his scanners, and for a moment there was just a hum as Bumblebee slowly turned to scan the entire massive structure.

"I can detect no dangerous emissions, although there are some readings reminiscent of energon crystals, but none quite like I have ever registered before. Your history does not report the discovery of anything we would have recognised as energon, and we thought Earth had developed without it. There readings, however, suggest otherwise." He paused before speaking again. "The forms below only show some basic circuitry and processing ability, although they do not appear to have space for a Spark, or any higher functions. I would need to be closer, and have some of Ratchet's skills to be certain, but I believe that the mechanicals below would only have functioned as drones."

"What about that tunnel behind us?" Sam asked, indicating a barely-seen deeper darkness near the lowest point of the cave. "Anything dangerous down there?" Sam didn't like dark mysterious caves, for in many books and films they turned out to be the lair of something invariably dangerous, or the entrance to somewhere you later found out you didn't want to be. Sam wanted to know if this particular cave mouth led to either.

Bumblebee scanned for a moment and said "Nothing alive that is dangerous, but it is from somewhere beyond that some of the energon-like emissions seem to be originating."

"Are they dangerous to me? Or to you?" Sam asked.

"Normally, raw energon is dangerous to Cybertronians, and we are all given the waveforms to remember so we can avoid them," Bumblebee said. "But these emissions appear to be in a wavelength that suggests no danger to either of us, although I do suggest caution, as I have never seen a reading like this before."

"Well, okay, let's be cautious by all means, but it should be okay just to explore a bit, shouldn't it?" the human boy asked. "Just keep your sensors running, okay, and tell me if you sense danger?"

"Sure thing, Sam," said Bumblebee, stooping to allow the smaller human to scramble up into his hands.

Watching where he put his feet, and turning on a powerful light to aid visibility, the scout made his way over towards the mouth of the tunnel.

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"The readings are coming from directly ahead, round the next corner," Bumblebee said, about an hour after they had first set out to explore. They had had to climb and at times wade or swim, Bumblebee aiding Sam where he could, allowing him to ride on his neck or head when needed, and they had found many objects, ranging from small carvings and jewellery left in niches in one tunnel, to a large mechanical leg in another. It seemed now, however, that they were about to find what they had come to seek.

"Let me scan again, just to ensure they're not dangerous," Bumblebee said.

"Sure, but could you douse your lights?" Sam said, from his perch on Bumblebee's shoulder. "I think there may be some light ahead." Bumblebee didn't speak, but his lights dimmed and then went out even as the hum of his scanning beam continued uninterrupted.

Sam blinked, getting used to the absence of Bumblebee's light, but he had been correct, there was a glow from around the corner they were stood by.

"No, no dangerous emissions, but you are correct, some of them are in the visible spectrum, and I believe the illumination should be sufficient for us both to see unaided." Bumblebee advanced around the corner, and stopped on the edge of the cavern that opened in front of them.

The cavern's floor was littered with small clusters of white crystals, and in between some of these grew large ferns. Sprouting straight from the rock, the thick hexagonal columns of crystal grew out in all directions. There was a particularly large cluster near the centre of the cavern which drew Sam's eyes. Bumblebee scanned again.

"I think, Sam, that these crystals are a form of raw energon that is not dangerous to either of our forms. Perhaps something about the organic nature of your world makes it crystallise into a more stable form then on our own world. This may be the only deposit like it in your galaxy, or perhaps other organic worlds have the same stable energon crystals. The ferns appear to be harmless."

"That's assuming we are still _on_ my world," Sam said uneasily. "That contraption of Wheeljack's could have transported us anywhere."

Bumblebee reached up to Sam. "Do you want a closer look?" he asked. "It's safe, and there is no way I can get into the cave any further without risking damage to either myself or some of the ferns and crystals, but there appears to be space enough for you, one area seems to resemble a path. It could be that wherever we are is inhabited, but the path does not seem to have been used that recently. I will keep my proximity sensors active, but I believe it is likely to be safe for you to explore."

Sam climbed onto Bumblebee's metal palm, and the Autobot scout lowered the human boy close to the path. Sam leaped off with an agility the Autobot still admired even after knowing Sam as long as he had. As Sam set off down the path, here and there touching crystals in wonder, or for balance, Bumblebee stood and activated proximity alarms, extending the field so it pierced ten feet down into both the tunnel they had come from, and the second, unexplored tunnel that extended into darkness and the unknown, opposite the one that they had entered.

Sam reached out to touch a crystal, and was surprised to find it was not dead cold, like stone, but more like plastic, slightly warmer than he expected. Reaching towards a smaller spar, he curled his hands around it and pulled, but it did not give way, it was stronger than he expected.

"These energon crystals seem to be denser than any I have come across before, it may be another factor in their stability," Bumblebee said. "I don't think you could break them with your human strength, Sam."

"Someone else had been here, though, and they must have found something they could cut it with," Sam said. "Look at this!" He ran his hand over a crystal stump, where the too-flat surface and sharp corners hinted at an unnatural crystal excision. A quick check at the sides of the caverns and in the ferns revealed wagons, both heavy and lighter weight, some containing some of the crystals that had been cut from their roots. Sam fell not far from one, tripping on an invisible obstacle, which upon closer examination seemed to be a mining tool. Bumblebee scanned to quickly reveal other tools concealed by the ferns to trap the unwary, and crates that Bumblebee scanned, but all they seemed to contain were fern spores. The wagons and the tools, however, all seemed to have something in common: they were all of great age, or so Bumblebee's scans, and Sam's observations, told them.

Bumblebee quickly did an extended scan, just to be on the safe side, but found nothing he had not already detected and concluded was the natural flora and fauna of the area. Then he scanned the cut surface Sam had found, detecting faint, very old energy signatures of what was probably some sort of energy tool used to cut the crystal from its root.

"Well, whoever they were, they haven't been back for a very long time, and I suspect that wherever we have ended up has been abandoned."

"But why?" Sam asked. "There's still all these crystals left that could be mined, if that's what they were doing, and they've left behind all those mechanisms in the big hall. And that points to the possibility of some catastrophe or danger that overtook them suddenly. But what was it, and could it still endanger us now?"

"I have detected some minor tremors since entering, Sam. It is possible that volcanism or tectonic activity affected the original architects and population who lived here. However, I am detecting no warning signs of any such event being imminent at the moment."

"Well, shall we go back and look at those machines we found earlier? The big leg we found on our way here must have once belonged to one," Sam said. Bumblebee nodded once, and put his hand down for Sam to clamber into.

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On the way, they stopped to examine not just the great leg, but some of the items contained in the niches. Two or three of the statues appeared to have a recurring theme: a figure sitting cross-legged with its hands held flat in front of its body. From the neck down, the figures were human, but set on the neck was the head of a dinosaur. Some had horns on their foreheads, and some did not, but all had a beaked mouth and a neck frill. Two were made of stone, one piece green and the other of pink and white marble, carved and polished, and the third was made of metal that Bumblebee said was gold, inlaid with precious stones. Sam put this last into his pocket, planning to look it up online when he got back home –assuming that they got home, he reminded himself - and see if anything like it had been discovered and documented.

When they reached the great leg, Bumblebee picked it up and manipulated it, finding it still mobile despite its age, and made of an alloy he did not recognise. He put it back down and they moved on, until they came to the cathedral-like cave with the pillars and structures.

The two things they were most interested in were the sunken courtyard containing machines, and the stairs up the wall that seemed to ascend to what appeared to be an entrance, or for them, an exit. A tall stalagmite had been fashioned into a tower, with steps carved in it leading to the top. At the top was a large faceted stone, whose light was currently shining on one side of the sunken courtyard, so there was no need to ascend to adjust the stone. Somebody had, it seemed, come before them, for they found footprints in the dust, not too recently, as they were themselves covered with a thin film of dust, but obviously whoever had been there had not been there for several weeks, at least, and except for the prints, there was no further sign that anybody else had been there.

Descending to the sunken area they found more footprints, and could discern three different sets, plus the tracks of something that was not human. There were also two odd-shaped gaps in the courtyard, where objects had obviously been, but were not there anymore.

Bumblebee and Sam moved over to some carts, which were laden with shaped crystals, pointed at the top, facets making it almost cylindrical, with a groove around the side. Bumblebee briefly scanned, and said "Yes, these are cut from the crystals we saw in the other cave."

"Hey, there's a space in the back of some of these robots that I think these would fit," Sam said, picking a crystal up.

"You might wish to expose it to the beam of light, energon needs energy to create power," Bumblebee said. Sam nodded, and walked with the crystal into the beam of refracted sunlight. The crystal noticeably brightened upon exposure to the light, and glowed as Sam bore it over to a robot that resembled a two-legged dinosaur, with a cockpit on its back. The human boy fitted the crystal into the robot, which was crouched. It shook a little, and the mechanical eyelids twitched, the legs flexed but then it was still. Sam waited a few more moments, then gingerly climbed into the seat. There were levers and controls in front of him, and Sam pulled back on the main central lever, and the dino-robot stood up.

Sam yelled a bit at the unfamiliar motion, then took hold of the two side-levers which, as he suspected, controlled the legs. Sam stayed in the mechanism for five minutes before pushing the main lever forwards and allowing the dino-mechanical construct to sink back to a crouch.

"Fun, but I think I prefer you, you're more stable," Sam said, dismounting and removing the crystal from its mounting.

"I should hope so!" Bumblebee said, but there was no rancour in his tone: he had by now gotten used to Sam, and took it as the compliment it was intended to be. Sam looked up to see Bumblebee taking several of the crystals and storing them in his arms and legs.

"They are energon. If they can power that, I can use them as fuel," Bumblebee replied when Sam raised his eyebrows at him. Sam nodded, handing the one he was holding to 'Bee, who stored it with the others.

"Shall we find out where that goes?" Sam asked, pointing up the stairs leading to the top of the conical roof.

"Certainly, Sam, but my scans suggest some of the footing may be treacherous, so I request that you travel on my shoulder," the scout said, stooping and putting out a hand. Sam, used to this mode of travel, scrambled up onto the hand and then clambered up the arm, wedging himself by Bumblebee's neck in his usual place. Bumblebee, once he was sure Sam was in a secure position, began to climb up the narrow stairway, his stride spanning about ten steps at a time.

There was one nasty moment not far from the top, when the rock beneath the mech gave way under his hands and feet, and as Bumblebee scrabbled for more handholds, Sam cried out in fear. For a worrying moment, Bumblebee managed to find just one handhold. Sam hung over the courtyard below, and shut his eyes to close out the sight of the tiny-looking courtyard, and the mechanisms below looking like toys as the Autobot swung precariously.

Bumblebee's questing hand then found another secure handhold, and Bumblebee was able to manoeuvre into a position where he could get his feet onto firm ground also. Although it slowed their progress, Sam did not complain when Bumblebee began testing every handhold for stability before transferring his weight to it.

Eventually, they emerged, Sam having to squint his eyes against the sunlight, from the hole at the top, to find the sun fairly low in the sky, suggesting it was afternoon. They emerged amongst overgrown ruins, and Sam's sharp eyes spotted more dinosaurian heads carved on and about the ruined buildings, as well as many spiral patterns, and other influences, some of which Sam vaguely recognised.

"'Bee, look at this," Sam said, running his hands over some glyphs. "These look Egyptian." He moved to some others. "And these look Greek, and these others, something else again, sort of like a hybrid of the two." He moved over to another wall, and ran his fingers over the raised frieze depicted, showing humans and machines and dinosaurs all living together. "I don't understand, we're forever being told that dinosaurs and humans didn't co-exist, that the dinosaurs died long before humans evolved. This suggests otherwise, but how? Even if some did survive till the present day, there can't be many left or they would have been found. Are we in some different dimension? What has Wheeljack done?"

His question was punctuated by the roar of something that sounded very big and very aggressive.

"What was that?" Sam asked. Before Bumblebee could reply, there was a similar, slightly louder roar from the same direction as the first.

"I don't know, Sam, but we had best be careful, and I suggest you find somewhere to conceal yourself, because whatever it is, it sounds like it's coming this way."


	3. Chapter 3

Bumblebee – A Mech Out Of His Time.

Chapter Three – The Rainy Basin.

A/N: If "Mighty Roar" (Scott) reads this, please contact me. Lexi and Strongjaw are my creations. 1 orn= approximately 13 human days.

Sam hid himself inside one of the buildings and Bumblebee went into battle mode, but after fifteen minutes the roaring retreated, and then stopped. After another five minutes without any menacing sounds, Bumblebee decided it was safe to emerge. He scanned as far as he could, and got a reading of several large animals all around the structures, some getting closer, and Bumblebee decided he and Sam needed to investigate, and possibly sneak past if the large life forms proved to be dangerous.

Bumblebee found that sneaking up on one of the life-forms was difficult, but at one point Bumblebee told Sam he had detected human life-signs with some of the larger organisms, and as such he decided to head for them. To get there, Bumblebee had to squeeze through the trees, not so easy, and he created quite a lot of noise doing so. The Autobot noted uneasily that some of the life-form readings were now definitely heading their way, and when Bumblebee found a clearing in the forest, he did not feel any relief, for in the clearing stood two very large and obviously carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs.

"Shit! Tyrannosaurs!" Sam blurted out, as Bumblebee, checking out the contents of the Internet, found that the two dinosaurs were not the same. One was, indeed, a _Tyrannosaurus Rex_, but the other, slightly larger individual was more likely to be a _Giganotosaurus_. However, the differences were less important than the characteristics they shared. They were both taller than him, outmassed him by tonnes, and would probably be able to consume Sam in one bite.

The Autobot ran through his options: fighting with Sam on his shoulder could be dangerous, putting Sam in a tree could risk Sam falling out if the tree he was in was contacted during any fight, and running needed speed, so he'd have to push over or past trees. He decided the latter was the best course of action, dropped his battle mask, activated his cannon, and said "Sam hold on!"

He fired a laser blast at the feet of the closest, flashed his light in the eyes of the other, to buy time, then took off through the trees, damaging and breaking many as he fled from the two now-enraged theropods. Unfortunately the trees slowed him enough that the _Giganotosaurus_ caught up, catching onto his arm with its teeth. Bumblebee managed to pull the arm free as it roared in pain: it had drawn corrosive energon, and Bumblebee hoped it would put the larger dinosaur off.

Just as Bumblebee was wondering whether he should put Sam in a tree and fight after all, they burst into a larger clearing, containing three sauropods and several horned dinosaurs. Bumblebee noticed three things: the sauropods wore armour, there were baskets on the sauropod's backs, full of fish, and there were humans on the sauropods too.

As he approached, the horned dinosaurs – Styracosaurs, he recalled they were called -lowered their heads menacingly, stood in a defensive position around the large sauropods – two Brachiosaurs and a Diplodocus, he recognised- and the latter stood and raised its whip-like tail, and Bumblebee realised they were wary of him. Sam noticed too, yelling from his position on Bumblebee's shoulder, just as the two pursuing theropods burst from the forest and roared.

There was no time to waste. Hoping that Sam would not be seen as a threat, he grabbed Sam from his shoulder and dropped him by one of the styracosaurs, turned to face the theropods, aimed more laser blasts at their feet – alarming the humans who cried out in a language that he only partially recognised – and sent electricity through his metal skin, hoping that after one or two bites, they would decide he wasn't tasty, and too much trouble to bother. He turned his head briefly to see that Sam had been let through the styracosaur barricade and ropes from the back of a sauropod were being tossed down to him.

Bumblebee turned back to find himself looking down the throat of the Tyrannosaurus. He increased the flow of electricity to his skin, so it jumped and blue lines of power ran and sparked over him. The tyrannosaur jerked back, and Bumblebee thought it was on instinct, but when he looked the tyrannosaur in the eye, he was startled to see a greater intelligence there than he thought he would. He noticed both the tyrannosaur and _Giganotosaurus_ stayed back, not needing to bite to find out he would not taste good.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a voice. It spoke, and he realised that he could now recognise words from several languages mixed in to a whole with words he did not recognise. He turned to see the speaker was a small tan dinosaur standing on its hind legs up on the back of one of the sauropods, and as the theropods also turned to look, one of the humans pulled on a rope, allowing the fish inside to tumble to the ground in a slippery pile, and the other two followed suit. Then the armoured convoy moved aside, without relaxing their defensive formation, to leave the fish outside. The tan-backed dinosaur spoke again, the deep growls and coughs obviously meaning more to the dinosaurs than the Autobot, for they stopped eyeing him and the convoy, and instead went to feast on the fish.

Bumblebee blew air out of his vents in relief that the situation had been resolved to the apparent satisfaction of both parties, and cut the current running over his skin and withdrawing his cannon and battle mask. He looked down at his bitten arm, but saw that the damage was already self-repairing, and that given an orn or so, it would all be gone as if it had never happened. As the convoy went on its way, Bumblebee moved to follow, but then backed off as the styracosaurs raised their horns, trumpeted, and shook their heads in obvious threat.

He looked at Sam, noticing that the boy, who was now on the Diplodocus, was crying out "No! He's safe! He's my friend! Let him come!"

The small tan dinosaur moved over to Sam, trying first French, then Spanish, and then finally English, which Sam understood. They exchanged names, and then Sam pointed to Bumblebee and asked them to let him come.

"It's a strutter, and the Rainy Basin theropods guard such as it, and dislike letting them out into the wider world. Mighty Roar and Strongjaw are happy with the fish, but could turn if that comes out. Call whoever is in it out and we can all get to safety."

"That _is_ him!" Sam tried to explain. "He may be a machine, but he's alive, there's nobody in there! Please, he's no threat to you, he's my Guardian, he's sworn to protect me! Please let him come!"

The tan and brown dinosaur spoke in that musical mishmash language again, waited for a reply from another human, then dipped his head.

"It is armed. We do not want nor need weapons on Dinotopia. Weapons are enemies, even to their owners."

Sam noticed that the last sounded like a learned homily, or a quote.

"You must have noticed that Bumblebee did not use it to harm or kill. He can deactivate it, put it away, you just saw him do so, and maybe at some point he can show you its non-destructive capabilities." Sam did not know what these were, but decided to worry about that later. Right now, he just needed them to let Bumblebee come with him. Another quick conversation between the translator-dinosaur and one of the humans followed, then gave a sharp downwards jerk of its head that Sam recognised as a nod.

"It can come," the dinosaur said.

"He," Sam said. The tan dinosaur said nothing, neither accepting or rejecting the pronoun, just spoke again to the human on the first sauropod, who gave a call to the rest of the group.

Bumblebee moved to the tail of the procession, and they carried on.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

When they first spotted the convoy, and the horned dinosaurs had lowered their heads, Sam had been sure they were doomed, and had shouted for them to show mercy and let them in. Then Bumblebee had put Sam down, and faced off the two theropods, blue lightning running up and down his legs and leaping from point to point on his hide.

The two nearest horned dinosaurs to him had moved to quickly expand the semicircle so Sam was inside the protective crescent, and Sam noticed one of the humans on the big four-legged dinosaurs – he thought they were called brontosauruses – waving to him. As he waved back and ran towards them, two ropes were dropped down. Sam took hold of the ropes, and between him climbing and them pulling him up, he was soon with the other humans.

One spoke to him, but Sam could not understand him.

"Hey, slow down, I'm sorry, I don't understand you," he said, then turned to see a stalemate between Bumblebee and the theropods. The yellow scout crackled with electricity, but didn't actually want to cause them harm, and the carnivores seemed reluctant to approach the lightning-wreathed Autobot. Then a small four-footed dinosaur Sam hadn't noticed before, tan with brown blotches and a cream belly, emitted a series of deep-throated growls, snarls and explosive bursts of sound as humans released the fish on the backs of the three larger dinosaurs, one of which he also stood on. The convoy seemed to manage a practiced shuffle away from the pile of fish, and once it was clear of the group, the Rexes turned away from Bumblebee and began eating the raw fish with obvious relish.

Sam turned away, and then realised the convoy was on the move. It was habit that prompted him to look back to see if Bumblebee was following, so he also saw the menacing gestures of the armoured horned dinosaurs, and realised, with horror, they intended to leave the Autobot scout to face the theropods alone.

"No!" Sam cried. "He's safe! He's my friend! Let him come!" He recalled that he had barely heard a word of English since getting on, and wondered how to get the message across when he realised the small light brown dinosaur had come over and was pawing at his leg to get his attention.

"Hello?" Sam said, and the dinosaur said something he could not understand but sounded vaguely French, then another language that was definitely Spanish, and then said "Can you understand me?" in English, although it was oddly accented.

"Yes!" Sam said, glad to find someone who could speak to him in his own language.

"I am called Lexi," the translator dino said.

"I'm Sam," Sam said. He pointed to Bumblebee. "Please let him come."

"It's a strutter, and the Rainy Basin theropods guard such as it, and dislike letting them out into the wider world. Mighty Roar and Strongjaw are happy with the fish, but could turn if that comes out. Call whoever is in it out and we can all get to safety," Lexi said.

'_Strutter?'_ Sam wondered, then realised they thought Bumblebee was like the dino-robot drone they had found underground.

"That _is_ him!" Sam tried to explain, and wondering how he could explain the difference between Bumblebee and a non-sentient machine. "He may be a machine, but he's alive, there's nobody in there! Please, he's no threat to you, he's my Guardian, he's sworn to protect me! Please let him come!"

Lexi consulted with one of the humans on another dinosaur, and then Lexi dipped its head once. "It is armed," the dinosaur said. "We do not want nor need weapons on Dinotopia. Weapons are enemies, even to their owners."

Sam looked almost panicky, Bumblebee noticed, and hoped Sam would keep calm. Sam didn't know that he could likely use the lightning to warn off the predators and follow at a distance if need be. "You must have noticed that Bumblebee did not use it to harm or kill. He can deactivate it, put it away, you just saw him do so, and maybe at some point he can show you its non-destructive capabilities." Bumblebee blinked, and guessed that Sam had guessed his cannon could drill, bore, melt and etch and be set to different frequencies and foci.

The pink dinosaur spoke to another human again, then brought its head down decisively, and said "It may come."

"He," Sam insisted. Lexi didn't reply, and Sam wondered if he or she had not heard him, or was ignoring Sam's correction. He decided not to worry as the horned dinosaurs allowed Bumblebee in behind the bigger dinosaurs. At least they were allowing his Guardian to go with them.

But to where, he wondered?

A/N: I am aware that Sam and Bumblebee identify the dinosaurs, particularly the sauropods differently. This is done to reflect Sam's lack of reference, and thus is not a mistake on my part.


	4. Chapter 4

Bumblebee: A Mech Out Of His Time.

Chapter Four.

Satisfied that Bumblebee was being permitted to accompany them, Sam turned back to the dinosaur translator with many questions on his lips.

"Where are we? And how come you can talk?"

Lexi turned and said something in its own language to one of the other humans, then turned back to Sam.

"The land we are in is commonly called Dinotopia, and as to the talking, it is not hard. Sometimes, getting one of us to shut up is the difficulty." She crinkled her eyes as Sam gave a short laugh at the unexpected jest. "But pardon me, for I have a burning question of my own to ask you. If you washed up on our shores, how did you get so far inland as the Rainy Basin?"

"Washed up on your shores?" Sam said confused. "We didn't, it's a long story how we got there, but we started our journey in caves beneath the ground, before climbing up into some ruins. We were trying to work out where we are."

Sam realised Lexi's beak was hanging open with shock, the translator rendered temporarily speechless. Then the translator snapped it shut, before finding its voice again.

"You came through The World Beneath?" it said.

"What's that?" Sam asked. "The caves we were in? We found this there, amongst other things, if that helps." Sam took out the small statue he had picked from one of the niches and showed it to Lexi.

"A statuette of Ogthar, the wise king of Poseidos!" it said. Sam privately decided Lexi was a female, something about the tone and timbre of the voice. He asked her "This is a statue of an actual person? He looks half-human, half-dinosaur. Do you, well, you know, mate with humans?"

"Absolutely not!" she said in a tone that reinforced the words. "Ogthar is a legend, the ruler of the city of Poseidos. In legend, he is half-Ceratopsian, half-human, but I personally believe he was a human with a symbolic ceratopsian headpiece. He is often portrayed, as the statuette shows, as an anthroceratops, which is a compliment. A human with a ceratopsian head is symbolic of wisdom. It may be that he wore a crown or a decorative mask fashioned on the face of a ceratopsian, and it became blurred over time, in re-telling and in memory, until the legends were of an anthroceratops king."

"Ceratopsian?" Sam queried. Lexi shook her own head slowly, not in negation, but to show her own small frill, beige atop and cream below.

"I am a ceratopsian, as are our guards down there," she said, nodding towards the armoured horned dinosaurs. "I am a protoceratops, they are styracosaurs, and the leader of the Council of Waterfall City is Brokehorn, a Triceratops. All of us are of a family known as ceratopsian, but we all have differences, and there are more varieties than the three I have named, and later you may get to meet some more."

She took a breath and continued. "The World Beneath is a remnant of a bygone time, a place where we first sheltered when the sky turned black and the world turned cold. We sheltered there for many years, and much later, humans arrived and met the descendants of those who took shelter, our ancestors. There are rumours of wars between saurian and human, who raised weapons against each other, but we have since lived together as partners from before our written records began. Even in Poseidos, the sunken city, for a time dinosaurs and humans lived together in partnership. The World Beneath at one point was connected to the city of Poseidos, and led to it, but Poseidos was rocked by an earthquake so severe that the entire city and the landmass it stood upon sank beneath the waves. Some of us here are descendants of those who evacuated before it sank, and that is how the stories survive, by word of mouth handed down from survivors to their offspring. You can see how details can become blurred and facts become embellished, and history becomes legend."

"Atlantis," Sam said. "There is a legend in my world of a city on a continent, both called Atlantis, which was sunk when an earthquake hit. If we are still on Planet Earth, the stories may relate to the same event, but again distorted as it's been handed down through our legends."

"Yes, you are still on Earth, but on a land surrounded by impenetrable reefs," Lexi said. "Did you think yourself on another world?"

"I wasn't sure," Sam said "because of the nature of the accident that brought us here." He motioned towards Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, the mechanical life-form, is from another world, and it was the failure of a machine built by one of his kind that brought us here."

"Apart from its more human shape it - I mean he - is reminiscent of the strutters that were used in Poseidos, and it is rumored they were used to replace dinosaurs at one point. Poseidos was meant to be very technologically advanced, and I theorise that if we wished to, we could become mechanically proficient again if we wished. However, we are happy with our current level of technology and so we choose not to."

"But you could build machines to take people past those beasts we saw earlier, it would be safer, surely!" Sam said.

"Do not make the mistake of thinking that the Rainy Basin carnivores are savage, dumb animals just because they live their lives differently," Lexi said a trifle sharply. "They live the way their early ancestors did, by hunting, because that is their choice, and we believe in freedom, as long as it does not harm others. They also do not wish to cause harm to others, but realize that their appetites, if unsated, could be dangerous in a crowded settlement. They live here alone for our safety as much as because they do not wish to live as we do, and it is a freedom we not only respect, but are grateful for."

"I know somebody who says that freedom is the right of all sentient beings," Sam said. "Bumblebee's boss, Optimus Prime," he clarified when Lexi cocked her head curiously at him. She nodded, and continued as if Sam had not interrupted.

"As long as we bring fish, and politely request passage, they do no harm, and even a convoy without fish may pass safely, as long as they understand that next time a tribute of fish is expected." She saw the look on Sam's face and continued. "We catch more than enough, and are happy to share it with our cousins in the Rainy Basin."

"It's a protection racket!" Sam said astonished. Lexi looked quizzically at him and he rushed to explain. "They only let you pass if you give them something they want!"

"Why not?" Lexi said, puzzled. "They have to eat something. We do not mind.

"And that's all there is to it? Then why the armour these guys are wearing? If they are safe by giving fish, why bother with the armour?" Sam said, indicating the convoy around them.

"Precautions are always wise," Lexi replied. "Young males may sometimes try to prove themselves to others by attacking a convoy. Usually the older adults will curtail such attacks, but often they only find out after the event. Youngsters can be devious, and I know the same is true of human youngsters. Also, occasionally, one or two may turn rogue, or if they are hunting or looking for a mate, they can become unpredictable. There are many risks in the Rainy Basin, theropods are only one of them. Better to be armoured for no reason then unprotected when there is need for armour."

"I guess that makes sense," Sam said. "But those ones we encountered threatened you!"

"No, they threatened _you_," Lexi pointed out. "We encountered them because you came to us and they were chasing you." This was said without any accusatory tone, but Sam still felt a flush of guilt. "They are the guardians of t

he World Beneath, and they thought you were stealing a strutter, that is why you were pursued. They were angry, they dislike theft, but when your friend functioned – and more importantly, changed function - without an operator, and they realized the only human smell on him is yours, it is likely they realized he was something else. For example, I doubt that human-created strutters could discharge electricity over their skin like your friend."

Sam stared. "They're that intelligent? They can reason like that."

"They're as intelligent as you or I, remember, we've had several million years more to evolve to survive in a changing world. If you humans could do it in a paltry couple of million years, we could in 65 million!"

"But that doesn't answer the question about using technology for some things. It could make some things easier, surely?"

"They tried that in Poseidos, and, remember I told you that some machines replaced dinosaurs?" Lexi reminded Sam. "We don't want that happening again. We don't know the ins and outs of the situation in Poseidos, but what accounts we do have suggested that both humans and dinosaurs suffered as a result. Weapons were made, wars were fought, and people and dinosaurs died. We won't make the same mistakes twice. We have technology, but only what we need to live and prosper, no more."

"Makes sense I guess," Sam said, thinking of all the unemployed Americans who could have done jobs that were instead done by machines and computers.

He turned away from Lexi to watch the countryside go by, and he had to admit it beat car travel hands down. You got used to the slight swaying motion of the dinosaur's gait, and the view from this height was fantastic.

"Can I ask you some questions now? About you and your friend?" Lexi asked.

"Well, I'll have to ask Bumblebee's permission," Sam said.

"Of course, call him over," Lexi said. Sam waved to catch Bumblebee's attention and waved him over while Lexi whistled and clicked at the horned dinosaurs below, presumably to tell them not to get alarmed as he moved up to walk beside the _Diplodocus_ Sam was on. He was walking slightly slower than Sam was used to seeing him move to keep pace with the dinosaur, but it seemed to Sam that it was no hardship for 'Bee.

"I am Lexi," the small dinosaur translator said to Bumblebee. "May I ask if your name is just sounds, or does it have a meaning?"

"The name Bumblebee is one I have taken to allow humans to speak a name they can pronounce," Bumblebee said "As I am yellow and black, and can attack, I am named after an insect that is yellow and black, and has a sting to attack with."

"I see," Lexi said, but she didn't look happy. "Are your kind then warlike?"

"No more so than humans," Bumblebee said "who in the wider world have had their fair share of brutal wars. My people have been at war for a long time, but I much prefer to live in peace. It is likely that our war is now over, and we hope that any wars we fight in future will be ones in which we only use words." He paused, and then said to Lexi "Please may I have a quick, private word with Sam? I assure you it concerns only he and I, and the content is no threat to you." Lexi nodded and moved away, and Bumblebee stooped to speak quietly to Sam, the odd posture not slowing or inconveniencing his pace in the least.

"Sam, I have not been idle while we have been travelling. I have been doing scanning and detecting and analysis as best I can. There is no Internet. I can detect none of the Autobots known to be on Earth. There are no TV signals, no radar, no man-made satellites in orbit, nothing that suggests we are in the century we were in twenty four hours ago." He paused, and then spoke again.

"I have been picking up no electrical communications, no radio signals, and thus must conclude we have travelled back in time by more than a hundred years."


	5. Chapter 5

Bumblebee- A Mech Out Of His Time.

Chapter Five – Questons And Answers.

"What?" Sam said. We've gone back in time? Is that even possible?"

"Sam, even human scientists have worked out it's possible in theory. Most cultures that work it out also realise, by the time they are technologically advanced enough to put it into practice, that it is terribly dangerous to do so. Spacebridging circumvents the speed of light, so when spacebridging, it is possible to arrive at your destination before you embark. Most spacebridges had technology built in to prevent that, though it could be overridden if essential, so you arrived a second after starting to cross. However, Wheeljack's device was uncalibrated and experimental."

"So, no safeguarding tech?" Sam asked.

"No safeguarding technology," Bumblebee confirmed. "We have been moved both spatially and temporally, and currently have no way of getting back, unless this land has the knowledge."

"Not sure about that 'Bee, these people seem to have discarded anything but the technology they need to live. If time travel isn't part of that – and from what I've seen and heard, it's not likely – then they may not have any idea."

"Well, we need to find out if they keep ancient written records, and if not, perhaps we can venture back where we arrived and search for any records there."

"I guess so," Sam said doubtfully, cocking his head at 'Bee, and noticing Lexi waving a forefoot at him. Two humans waved and smiled when they noticed him looking. "I think we should let our hosts back over, and I think before deciding what to do about it now, we should learn how to live here, find out exactly when we are, and maybe enlist the natives in helping us if we think they will."

"I would recommend not telling them about the time travel unless absolutely necessary, and definitely not until we know more about this society. They seem peaceful and co-operative, but there are humans as well as dinosaurs involved. I don't know about the dinosaurs, but humans can be as unpleasant as these ones seem pleasant. Until we know more about this society, this land, we should be cautious."

"Sure," Sam said, beckoning the tan dinosaur over. Lexi bobbed her head once in a gesture Sam was beginning to recognise as a nod of assent, and came over, looking up at Bumblebee with undisguised curiosity.

"Your human companion tells me that you hail from a planet that is not the one we live upon. Is this true?" she asked.

"Yes, he speaks the truth, I am from a world far from here called Cybertron," Bumblebee responded. "It is a world very different from this one, because there are no organic components to it. Even our plant life has a mechanical origin, and our crystals are composed of compressed metal. We did not use water, but liquid metals in their place, some you know of, and some you do not, and many of these would be toxic for you. Fortunately for us and the inhabitants of this world, we have found organic alternatives for all but a few, and of those few, there are none that cannot be generated from ingredients found on this earth, though it is not always easy, and they are not the same."

Sam knew Bumblebee spoke of energon with this last comment, and admired the way 'Bee could explain without specifying.

"We have little in the way of light pollution this far from any settlements," Lexi said. "Our astronomers have noted that the stars that fill our skies each night are also suns, some like our own, others different, often much larger. At night, would you be able to point out the star your world orbits?"

"I regret that I am unable to do so," Bumblebee said. "Are you aware that your world is part of a galaxy full of stars, and that it is not the only galaxy in existence?"

"Of course," Lexi said. "Just because we do not use superfluous technology does not mean that we do not use what we have to find out about the universe we live in."

Bumblebee was glad to hear the word "universe" because it meant he did not have to worry about explaining the concept to the translator.

"My world's star is in a separate galaxy from here, and I have been traveling a long time to get here. Our journey was shortened by the existence of a stable wormhole that connects our galaxy to yours, but it still took a very long time for us to get from there to here."

"Wormhole?" Lexi repeated in confusion.

"It is a corridor of warped space that connects two places in space. Often they are quicker than flying straight," he tried to explain.

"You will have to talk with some of our astronomers about that," Lexi said, her voice containing a note of humour. "I'm a translator with a basic general knowledge, but you have exceeded the limits of my astronomical understanding."

"Long story short: my galaxy is far too distant for me to point out my origin star. My voyage started a long time ago, from a planet too distant to see without very powerful telescopes."

"A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," Sam replied facetiously."

"That's a poetic way to describe it, you should use it when the pair of you write your journey for our scholars in Waterfall City," Lexi said.

"What? No, I can't claim that line, I heard someone else use it," Sam said, wondering how Lexi would feel if she also knew the person to coin it would not be born for several decades, and decided to dispense with the _Star Wars_ references for now, or at least re-word them.

"Well, our scholars will still be interested in your life before you came here, and how you came to us from the World Beneath. Did you venture here by accident using a submersible from your world?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sam said, making a mental note to talk to 'Bee about dates and the best story for a boy of his age from the 1800's. "I'm a bit confused, I think I hit my head when I arrived, can you tell me the date?"

Lexi looked up at Sam, resting one forefoot on his knee.

"You are the oddest dolphinbacks we have met, but at least this is a constant. Our way of measuring time is different to yours. When you go to Waterfall City, seek out our Timekeeper, Malik, and our Chief Librarian, Enit. Between them, they may be able to answer your questions about time. The last famous dolphinbacks were the Denisons, for they both not only adapted to life on Dinotopia faster than most, they both found their niche. The younger Denison became a Skybax rider, the first dolphinback to do so, and the older Denison made discoveries and created inventions, as he did in the outer world, but has now settled down. There may have been more recent dolphinbacks between yourselves and him, but those two are the most famous, for what they have done."

"That's a word you've used several times, 'dolphinbacks'," Sam said to Lexi. "What is a dolphinback, and how does it relate to humans who come from what you call 'The World Beneath'?"

She regarded him with her calm brown gaze for a moment, and then replied.

"Most people from the world beyond Dinotopia end up here because they are involved in a shipwreck, and the dolphins who know of this place either guide them here, or tow them to shore on their backs, hence the term 'dolphinbacks." As it is the main mode of transport that brings people from outside to here, the generic term is "dolphinback." Some humans understand Delphine as easily as I understand Universal Saurian and the Spoken Footprint, but they are few and far between."

"Delphine, Universal Saurian and the Spoken Footprint," Bumblebee repeated. "You speak a variety of languages here?"

"By necessity, as our throats cannot all function the same way. Humans can learn Delphine, the language of the dolphins, as long as they are not tone deaf. Spoken Footprint can be learned by most, and if they have ink and pen, tonal differences are easily resolvable. The tone differences are fewer than amongst the dolphins but Written Footprint can be used where there are issues. As for Universal Saurian, that language uses dinosaurian speech that humans cannot always reproduce, but that most of the dinosaurs have learned, although sauropods cannot and use Universal Footprint, or with other sauropods, their own language of whistles and calls. Even those in the Rainy Basin have learned that understanding, and sometimes using, Universal Saurian, is often to their benefit, especially for those convoys who may carry commodities that they will need, and request as part of the cost for safe passage." Lexi winked at Sam. "For their 'protection racket' to work, if their needs or wants change, they must be able to convey this."

"I guess so," Sam said. "So why is this convoy here?"

"Because some summers ago, a small hatchling needed a certain medicine that was in short supply, but the plant that produces it grows freely deep in the Rainy Basin. We are a medicine supply convoy, and we go out to gather the needed plants at a certain time to make sure that there will always be plenty of the medicines that may aid a sick saurian or human to health. It is our hope that if we harvest in a regular cycle, there will always be enough medicine to help those in need of it without sending a convoy out specifically."

"Makes sense," Sam said. "Do your medicines last a long time then?"

"Some do," Lexi explained. "Others perish quite quickly, which is why, when that happens, we go out and replenish the supply. It is true that tinctures and preparations always work better when they are fresh, but many are almost as effective when dried, concentrated, or distilled."

"So you go out solely to feed the carnivores, or plan these trips for when you can give fish?" Sam asked. "Do they not hunt for themselves?"

"Trips are planned when they can be, but sometimes we just need to load up and go," Lexi explained. "The carnivores do hunt, but there is a scarcity of large edible prey in the Basin. We load up with fish to satiate their hunger so that _we_ do not end up as lunch." Although Lexi said this with a humorous tone of voice, Sam shivered, not so sure that her light tone was just a joke.

"So, where are we going now?" Sam asked.

"We are travelling to a town called Bonabba. Once we get there, we will try and arrange to get you some sort of transportation to Waterfall City, although you,"- and here Lexi looked up at Bumblebee –"may have to walk, as we do not have many vehicles big enough for one as large as you, and those we have are used for invalid dinosaurs, so I do not believe any will be free for your use."

"I am used to walking, and I can carry Sam, all we would need would be a reliable guide."

"We should be able to send you to Waterfall City without going through the Rainy Basin," Lexi said. "However, that will depend on whether we have cut enough to send some with you. If not, you may have to dip into the Basin for one day only, to cut some plants that only grow deep in the interior. If so we will ask for one of the sauropods and two or three styracosaurs to volunteer. However, there is one thing you should know if this happens. We expect everybody on a convoy to share the work as much as possible. Sam, you will be expected to cut some medicinal plants, you will be given diagrams and verbal instructions, your friend Bumblebee can help guard you." Lexi switched her head to look at Bumblebee. "However you, Bumblebee, will have an additional task, one that is suited to your size and strength." As she paused, Bumblebee replied.

"I will be expected to help carry the offerings of fish?" he asked

"You catch on fast," Lexi said, her tone halfway between surprised and amused. "It is likely that I, or another translator, will also be with you on your journey, whether you need to go to the Basin or not, so language should not be too much of a barrier. However, it stands to reason that as you will be living among us, you should learn our language. Writing will come later, but allow me to teach you a few basic spoken words to start."

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

By the time the convoy reached Bonabba, Sam knew a couple of dozen words in the new tongue, amongst them "please" "thank you" "help" and "sorry", plus two phrases, "I do not understand," and "I am a new dolphinback." These, Lexi said, would cover most situations Sam might find himself in. It was also a help, however, that Bumblebee knew much more. As he only needed to hear a word and its meaning once to remember it, he knew much more than Sam, and would likely be proficient in Spoken Footprint by the time they got to Waterfall City. Bumblebee had confided to Sam that he intended to also learn Delphine and Universal Saurian, his vocal system able to reproduce most sounds accurately, many outside the human spectrum.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because if I am to look for any records left behind underground, I may need to speak and understand it to get past those carnivores. And I wouldn't mind having a look for that sunken city Lexi mentioned, Poseidios, and a little dolphin aid would be appreciated. If I can speak their language, they may be able to do some of the initial searching for me, and that's assuming they do not know where it is already." He paused, and looked at Sam again.

"After all, we may find a way of returning to our own location and time by doing so, and even if we cannot find any, we may find something else that may be of use to either us, or to these people. I personally would prefer to be doing _something_ to keep us busy over the next one hundred or so years, until we can leave when we catch up with our own time, wouldn't you?"

Although he said nothing, Sam was forced to agree.


End file.
